Palparan aide linked to abduction of UP students faces raps

An Army sergeant who served as aide of retired military general Jovito Palparan has been included among the respondents in the criminal complaint filed by the mothers of missing University of the Phillippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. The mothers, represented by lawyers from National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), filed beforea Department of Justice (DOJ) panel an amended complaint saying Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio was among Palparan's henchmen that took part in the abduction. Witness Wilfredo Ramos has claimed that he saw Osorio as one of the men who forcibly took Cadapan and Empeño in Bulacan in June 2006. Ramos has also claimed that he saw Osorio at the DOJ preliminary investigation hearing last July 19. Ramos added that the aide was "intimidating and eyeing him" during the proceedings. Osorio's identity was provided by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Provost Marshal Marshal General Col. Herbert Yambing. Yambing recited Osorio's unit assignments from the time he became part of the Army in 1987. At the time of the abduction of the UP student activists in June 2006, Osorio was assigned to the Army's Personnel Management Center, which is based in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. Edre Olalia, lawyer for the mothers, however said that it "is highly probable that there is a deliberate attempt to make it appear that Osorio was not in the place where the crime was committed." Fishing expedition? For his part, Palparan decried that his "opponents" were training its guns on him and the people around him. He added that Osorio was only assigned to him as a security detail during the first three proceedings at the DOJ. "Itong sundalo particularly is innocent. I just requested additional security for myself... so he was given to me. I don't know him exactly. So this time, he's now a respondent. It only shows that our opponents here are into fishing expeditions. It's very unreasonable," said the retired general. Palparan's co-respondents in the complaint include: